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Baranowski
Framework What are the theory based variables in behavior change games? (p. 77 onward) Provide a rich description of each with examples. *"Importance of A Story"-Behavior can be changed when stories address "behavior-change issues," while the lesson itself promotes healthy lifestyles. For example, one game sited had the characters eat fruits and vegetables to gain strength against the enemies. Throughout history, we have told stories--a "psychological need" for the human race, according to the text. Western audiences, in fact, expect to see exposition/conflict, then complication/climax, and finally resolution/conclusion. It is unknown why certain stories appeal to specific audiences more than others. * Story Genre This is the way that the story in the game is told. The method of storytelling has evolved throughout time. Most of the story telling is a narrative done by multiple individuals. Most of the stories are short and interlace with each other creating the story line. Most of the stories told revolve around the idea of good vs. evil. Fantasy games were also found to to have a more learning and knowledge transfer because it was more creative and fun than a game that was fiction. * Age and Game Play: Each game that is targeted to each age group should differ from each other. Each game has to be different because there has to be a noticeable difference in the “cognitive and emotional development” of each age group. However there has to be a substantial research done to appeal to the age ranges correctly. * Game Immersion When a video game captures a players full attention. The story would be so immerse that the player may actually feel as being a part of the game. This makes players become involved emotionally in the story. *Interactivity Baranowski explains that there are nine dimensions of interactivity. Accessebility, navigation, time, personalized content,delivery of message, data entry and use, entertainment, promotions, and relationships. He claims that there are subsets in each of these categories prevalent in video games. Taking control of situations in video games in a direct way affect our interactivity. Just as in real-life people must make decisions and plan events that will affect them personally in the game. Role-playing games are a good way interactivity is applied. As gamers we are forced to make decisions that will affect us directly and we are forced to see the outcome personally. Doing this in video games really appeals to our everyday life and that affects the interactivity a lot. Analysis The Baranowski article detailed how video games might result in behavioral changes for prosocial behavior. For this analysis you can focus on any element of change related to play (behavioral, affective, and cognitive) regardless of its pro or antisocial aspects. Examine your own use of video games in light of both the media effects class lecture on aggression and the variables you identified in the framework. Specifically, use a theory from class to explain or predict some change you have noticed in your use of video games and also consider how one of the variables from Baranowski might change or alter that theory's predicted outcome. Here's an example for your own use. Description: The Godfather for the Wii features a large quantity and variety of violent gameplay. Unlike many video games though, the Wii remotes are controlled through accelerometers and offer some unique opportunities to snuff out your opponents in the game. In the tutorial for the game, your player physically beats another character via physical input from the player in the form of facsimile motions. Unlike regular video games where a choking a character to death might involve rapidly pushing one or a combination of buttons, in the Godfather, players hold two controls apart and then mimic--with their own hands--choking a person to death. The Wiimotes also provide tactile feedback to the player, further enhancing my sense that I am participating in the violence. Analysis: The mediated violence in The Godfather for the Wii is perhaps more immersive than for other consoles. While the player produces the behavior they've learned (choking a character with the remote), the violence also seems more real because the player is more involved (immersed) in the violent act. Unlike other games where killing other players is routine, the type of input and amount of feedback from this game caused me to avoid killing players unnecessarily because of how off putting killing characters was. In a game where you have the ability and motivation to kill numerous individuals, I found myself avoiding violence wherever possible. Interpretation: In order for a player to socially learn what would be an anti-social behavior from a video game, that player would have to be disinhibited from their mental hangups from engaging in that behavior. One of the qualities of disinhibiting depictions of violent characters from class was that the effects of violence be downplayed or removed. Immersion should have also enhanced my learning because as Baranowski points out, greater involvement may be a moderating factor in how impactful a prosocial video game can be for players. In other words, immersion might make people more able to learn a behavior. In the case of the Godfather for Wii, the act of killing imaginary characters with similar movements to those you would expect in reality, coupled with immediate tactile feedback created an immersive situation but I'm now less willing to reproduce the behavior than had the immersion not been there. Unlike prosocial games where the objective is to create a desire to continue the desired behavior, the Godfather had the opposite on my own behavior within the game. Evaluation: For me, the greater amount of immersion in the Godfather actually resulted in a distaste for violence in the game and is likely motivation to not hurt anybody in real life. If I didn't like doing it with Wiimotes, there is no way I would enjoy hurting someone with my own hands. This was a good, insightful experience for me. Engagement: Feeling like I'm part of the world in which I'm interacting is an important aspect for my enjoyment of video games. However, playing this game made me realize that some aspects of that immersion are downplayed, such as the brutality and effects of violence. I'm now more aware of the lack of serious consequences in violent media when I play other games. Lauren Olson Analysis Description: I did not grow up playing video games, nor have I ever owned a video game console. Because of this limitation on my experience with video games, this analysis is going to be pretty tricky to do. In my childhood, I remember playing "Mario Kart" on my cousin's Nintendo 64 once or twice, so I'm going to do my best to recall my experience with that game from back in my youth. Mario Kart is an N64 game that allows for up to 4 players, in which you drive your "Karts" around a course in a high stakes race for first place. As you drive your go kart, you can pick up various weapons to use against those you're racing against--including bananas to make them slip, lightning bolts to shrink them, mushrooms to poison them, and turtles to run into their karts, slowing them down. Whoever survives the elements of the course--and their opponents--wins the race. Analysis: Though this game doesn't seem very violent to me after reading Dr. Tamul's description and analysis of The Godfather (which I could not BELIEVE when I read it!), it certainly could be considered violent amidst other Mario games. Through talking to my cousin, I found out he also owned "Mario Tennis," and "Mario Golf," which, according to him, are much less violent. In fact, in these two games you just compete in sporting events with your Mario character. So, within the "Mario" set of games, Mario Kart could be considered violent, especially as it was curtailed to a very young audience. Though this game was created for young children, your goal was to harm the other players as much and as often as possible, through whatever weaponry came your way, in order to get first place. Interpretation: As we learned in class, mediated aggression can be learned starting at a very young age; over time and through more mediated exposure, kids are learning to become more aggressive over time. The social learning theory furthers this idea, which occurs over the long term, and reveals how repeated exposure can teach these children "how to aggress." Bandura's "Bobo Doll" experiments are certainly a testament to how social learning theory and aggression can be highly influential beginning at a very early age--in fact, an age that is probably younger than that of those who would be playing this Mario Kart game. Because I only played this game once or twice, I was probably not exposed enough to do real harm to my psyche. However, I am still abole to "retain and recall" the game, so clearly Mario Kart had some sort of impact upon my memory. In addition, I tried playing the game in the first place because my cousins were, and they were enjoying it so much, so I wanted to model what they were spending their free time doing by joining in--in hopes to be rewarded with gigglesa and happiness too. Baranowski discusses the idea of emotion in his article, noting, "Emotion has been strongly linked to memory or retention. Stories are designed to in part evoke emotion...Reinforcement mechanisms in video games influence positive and negative emotions." This definitely falls under the "cognitive" effects category when discussing videos games--maybe I have such good memories from playing this video because I remember it stirring a high level of frustration within me. My cousins had played the game countless times, and kept "hurting" my character; I'm sure I got last place in these few races too. This game can certainly bring out frustration and anger in those who are playing it--spurring feelings that are precursors of aggression. In the end, I realized that I was happy without playing these games, and frustrated while playing them, so (differing from Bandura, though my case may be uncommon), I altered the theory's projected outcome in that I stopped playing the game entirely. Evaluation: In the end, my short exposure to Mario Kart ended in me giving up on playing in my youth. Due to extreme frustration and lack of fun, I was done playing the game that my cousins were so "pro" at playing. I began by modeling them like Bandura, but with a couple of unsuccessful attempts, I became discouraged, and feeling these negative emotions, quit playing. I may not b the best person to evaluate due to my very minimal exposure to video games at all. But, on a larger scale, Mario Kart could bring out aggression in the children who played. It was definitely a more violent game than the other Mario games offered for children in their youth. In fact, it taught children that to get ahead (and get first place), sometimes you have to hurt your friends or peers for your own personal gain. Though it may be just a video game, the sybolic message behind its "story" is pretty tragic--teaching that the sacrifice of others can be beneficial for one's own personal gain. Engagement: Now that we've had this assignment, and discussed all of these theories and research examples of aggression, I'm tempted to get my cousin to set up the old N64 next time I'm at his house so we can try out Mario Kart once again. Though my memory of it is a little fuzzy, I'd really like to see if it still brings out that frustrated, mad emotion within me--and if it still brings him the utter happiness it use to. In addition, in all other realms of video gaming (that I clearly have NOT been exposed to), I plan on keeping a wary eye upon the messages behind the game being played, and the potential impacts it could have on the people playing. Kyle Hettinger analysis Description: I just started a series of games on my Playstation 3 called inFamous. It is a game about a guy who got electrical super powers and now he has to fight the people trying to consume the whole world with a sort of plague. This game requires the player to use electrical powers to kill people in the game. We have the choice to do bad and become a criminal, or use our powers for good by helping the authorities in the game. Having this aspect in the game makes the story very immersive. Analysis: There is plenty of mediated violence in this game. As a player we are brought to make many different decisions that will affect our game play later in the game. I feel that having these decisions in the game make it more immersive than some other games. Video games like this are very clever. They give us a chance to be something we are not in real life. We hold many people’s lives in our hands when partaking in certain actions in the game. I however can never do the evil decisions; in any game I have ever played with the choices like this I have never been the “evil guy”. I feel sorry for the people I kill and I value their lives, even though I know it is just a video game. Interpretation: This game relates to the “social cognitive theory”. Baranowksi mentions that behavior changes are linked to video games. It is very possible that this game is a very anti-social behavior kind of game. In reference to children, it may be hard for them to separate this video game from real life experiences. This game embeds many of the theory-based variables that Baranowski speaks of. There is presence of the “importance of the story”. This game is a series game that takes place at a specific location and a specific time. That leads to “game immersion”, the story is made so that it will capture ones full attention. It poses you with very difficult decisions to make within the game, which will lead to “interactivity”. This game is getting you involved to interact with it, you must be immersed within the game in order to make the decisions that will affect the outcome you want. I have found that if I look away for even I moment, that I might miss something important to the game. It really bugs me knowing that I am so enthralled with this game. Evaluation: In this game the immersion played the biggest role. I have found that the more I play and the more immersed I become, the more I tend to make cynical decisions. The people in this game are made so that they do not like you and your character is seen as a terrorist (even though I saved the city and their lives). I do things to these people that I would have never thought I would have. It makes me -participate in this anti-social behavior. They make me angry enough so I succumb to my anger and kill them. This is not something I would normally do, in real-life or otherwise. Engagement: I highly enjoy being fully immersed in my video games. I see now though how it can cause the issue. I see that being fully immersed can bring out the anti-social behavior. I can see that I was influenced by this game in some way or another. Eli Rhee Analysis Description: I rarely ever play video games and do not own a gaming system, and have never played any sort of violent game. The closest thing that I can think of is playing Dance Dance Revolution with my neighbors growing up, so I hope that works for this analysis. DDR is a game (for the Xbox, I think, but I am not completely sure) where the game plays a song and you stand on a pad and step in various directions to the beat of the song. There are various levels of difficulty, and you can compete with another player. The goal would be to get the best score, and hopefully do well enough on so many songs that you eventually unlock new songs. Analysis: Although DDR is fairly innocuous, especially when compared to many other violent video games out there, there are dancing figures to follow on the screen and several of them are scantily clad women. Additionally, although competition can be a great thing, it can also be negative depending how it is used. In this game, either it can spur the player on to do better, or it can create animosity between players. Interpretation: As there wasn’t much violent content for me to analyze, I will use the fact that the dancing model is unrealistically proportioned and wore very little clothing. Social cognitive theory can influence this is that observing the model looking like this can send a message to female players that if you’re a good dancer, you will become like this. This convinces female players to “work harder” at the game, but is definitely a negative but not overt message sent to players. Evaluation: Like I previously stated, I didn’t learn any negative content that was violent, but I probably was indoctrinated with messages of unrealistic body images. I also am a very competitive person, and although I imagine that much of this I learned from doing sports, I can also guess that DDR only furthered my overly competitive spirit. Engagement: Whereas previously I had not thought that much about my video game involvement, mostly because I rarely play video games. However, after the lecture and this study, I am more in tune to the things that we usually write off as insignificant. Even though the video game that I analyzed is not quite as bad as a game such as The Godfather, it is necessary to keep in mind the messages that games and other media that we are immersed in are sending us. Mara Knapp analysis Description: I have had very limited experiences with video games. When i was around 4 though 7, I played the original Nitendo. You know... the one you blew it if the game wasn't working properly only to learn that it would work like a charm. I would only play mario and a painting game. When I got a little older I would watch my brother play grand theft auto which contains a lot more violence. I was always appauled at it's content but I begged to play anyway so I could hang out with him. I hated the controller for XBox. During my late high school years we got the wii, which I loved. I purchased Super Mario Brothers and that's what I played the most. analysis: The pattern of games I chose to play had limited violence. I don't understand the concept of playing most other games like football for example. Why not just go outside and throw a real one around. Or the violent games where the sole purpose is to kill everyone, why would anyone want to kill people for fun. Perhaps if there were a Dexter video game where you secretively track and kill rapists and murderers and such. That might be cool. I think that playing games of violence, almost every game has some level of violence, is desensitizing kids to view violence as a means to get what they want or get further in life. I think this plays most into the definition of the social learning theory. I only wanted to play because my brother was playing. We learn specific values or behaviors because they were first exposed to us by someone else. Interpretation: So what? why does this matter? Well through my research of video game violence I have found that violent video games that do not contain blood are used by military to desensitize their new soldiers to kill. These are the same games that we view as 'less violent' because they don't contain the blood and gore. In addition, most parents are not even aware of the ratings of the games that their children own therefore children are widely being exposed to content that is above their appropriate level. Learning by watching other people is dangerous because we want to be like the other people in our lives and be close to them. Evaluation: With children and adults alike playing these violent games, they are becoming desensitized to aggression, murder, harm to others, foul language, and many more negative behaviors. With the widespread acceptance of these games and lessons in our society we are more likely to be drawn into a game that others are into. This isn't a good thing. I also feel that Baranowski's variables of the importance of story and the genre (or how the story is told) I feel that if an individual is strong in their values against the message of a particular story in a game or the genre of a game they are less likely to continue playing the game which challenges the social learning theory. Engagement: I am much more cautious about video games than I used to be. I tend not to play any games anymore because of my schedule, however, I don't believe I would be into it if I had the time. I hope to have kids one day therefore need to be educated on the influences of video games, the social learning theory and baranowski's variables. I plan to be much more careful of the messages I am consuming regardless of friends or families influence in the matter.